Forest and Climate Paper Series

Frances Seymour and Jonah Busch have produced a book titled Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change (2016). As background for Why Forests? Why Now?, more than 20 papers have been written, and multiple related papers were subsequently produced. These papers and their accompanying blog posts are listed below.

Read the brochure on Why Forests? Why Now? for an overview of how tropical forests are essential to prevent climate change and advance global development.

 

1. Assessing Performance-Based Payments for Forest Conservation: Six Successes, Four Worries, and Six Possibilities to Explore of the Guyana-Norway Agreement - CGD Note by Jonah Busch and Nancy Birdsall

2. What Drives Deforestation and What Stops It? A Meta-Analysis of Spatially Explicit Econometric Studies - Working Paper 361 by Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon and Jonah Busch

See also associated Wonkcast, Deforestation by the Numbers, featuring Jonah Busch and Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon, and associated data set 

3. Stopping Deforestation: What Works and What Doesn't - CGD Brief by Jonah Busch and Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon

4. The Brazil-Norway Agreement with Performance-Based Payments for Forest Conservation: Successes, Challenges, and Lessons by Nancy Birdsall, William Savedoff, and Frances Seymour

5. The State of REDD+ Finance - Working Paper 378 by Marigold Norman and Smita Nakhooda

See also associated blog, Show Them the Money, by Frances Seymour

6. The Value of Forest Ecosystem Services to Developing Economies - Working Paper 379 by Katrina Mullan

See also associated blog, Why Quantifying the Value of Tropical Forests Matters for Development, by Jonah Busch

7. Ecosystem Services from Tropical Forests: Review of Current Science - Working Paper 380 by Katrina Brandon

See also associated blog, A Tale of Two Rainstorms: The Science of Tropical Forests, by Jonah Busch

8. Trading Forests: Quantifying the Contribution of Global Commodity Markets to Emissions from Tropical Deforestation - Working Paper 384 by Martin Persson, Sabine Henders, and Thomas Kastner

See also associated blog, The Global Trade in Deforestation and Associated Emissionsby Frances Seymour

9. The Impact of Payment-for-Performance Finance on the Political Economy of Deforestation in Indonesia by Metta Dharmasaputra and Ade Wahyudi

See also associated blog, A Burning Issue for Indonesia’s New Jokowi Administration, by Frances Seymour

10. The Political Economy of Deforestation in Brazil and Payment-for-Performance Finance by Sérgio Abranches

See also associated blog, Can Brazil Stay the Course on Reducing Deforestation?, by Frances Seymour

11. Why Maintaining Tropical Forests Is Essential and Urgent for a Stable Climate - Working Paper 385 by Rosa C. Goodman and Martin Herold

 See also associated blogs: 

What If We Had a Safe and Natural Way to Capture and Store Carbon?, by Frances Seymour, 

Tropical Forests Offer up to 24–30 Percent of Potential Climate Mitigation, by Jonah Busch,  

This Earth Day, Don’t Plant a Tree (Save a Forest), by Jonah Busch, and   

Halting and Reversing Deforestation Critical to +2 °C Climate Target, by Jonah Busch

12. US Support for REDD+: Reflections on the Past and Future Outlook - CGD Policy Paper 048 by Michael Wolosin and Donna Lee

See also associated blog, Will More Red States Constrain More REDD+ Finance?, by Frances Seymour

13. The California REDD+ Experience: The Ongoing Political History of California’s Initiative to Include Jurisdictional REDD+ Offsets within Its Cap-and-Trade System - Working Paper 386 by Jesse Lueders, Cara Horowitz, Ann Carlson, Sean Hecht, and Edward Parson

See also associated blogs, Jurisdictional Forest Offsets: California Dreamin’?, by Frances Seymour  and  

Can California’s Carbon Polluters Save Brazil’s Rainforests? by Michele de Nevers

14. Two Global Challenges, One Solution: International Cooperation to Combat Climate Change and Tropical Deforestation - Working Paper 388 by Antonio G.M. La Viña and Alaya de Leon

See also associated blog, Why Aren’t Forests More Prominent on the Agenda for COP20 Climate Talks in Lima?, by Frances Seymour

15. NGOs as Climate Policy Entrepreneurs: The Surprising Story of NICFI and Norwegian Leadership in REDD+ Financing - Working Paper 389 by Erlende Hermansen and Sjur Kasa

See also associated blog, Norway’s “Rainforest Billions”: How Did the Stars Align?, by Frances Seymour

16. The Politics of German Finance for REDD+ - Working Paper 390 by Til Pistorius and Laura Kiff

See also associated blog, How Germany Copes with REDD+ Dilemmas, by Frances Seymour

17. Measurement and Monitoring for REDD+:  the Needs, Current Technological Capabilities and Future Potential -Working Paper 392 by Scott J. Goetz, Matthew Hansen, Richard A. Houghton, Wayne Walker, Nadine Laporte, Jonah Busch

See also associated blog, Unsung Climate Hero: Forest Monitoring Technology, by Jonah Busch

18. Biofuel Policies: Fuel versus Food, Forests, and Climate Change - CGD Policy Paper 51 by Kimberly Elliot 

See also associated blog, Biofuel Subsidies: Bad Policies, Bad Examples for Development  by Frances Seymour 

19. Evolution of Finance for REDD+ in the UK: A History and Overview of the UK Government’s Engagement with REDD+ Finance, with a Focus on Performance-Based Payments for REDD+ - CGD Policy Paper 55 by Kate Dooley and Charlie Parker

20. The Indonesia-Norway REDD+ Agreement: A Glass Half-Full - CGD Policy Paper 56 by Frances Seymour, Nancy Birdsall, and William Savedoff

See also associated blog, Reducing Indonesia's Deforestation Rate: A Glass Half-full by Frances Seymour

21. The Indonesia-Australia Forest Carbon Partnership: A Murder Mystery - CGD Policy Paper 60 by Robin Davies

22. The Future of Forests: Emissions from Tropical Deforestation with and without a Carbon Price, 2016–2050 - Working Paper 411 by Jonah Busch and Jens Engelmann

             See also associated blog, Tropical Forests Equal to the Size of India will be lost by 2050, Unless we Act by Jonah Busch 

23. How the Green Climate Fund Could Promote REDD+ through a Cash on Delivery Instrument: Issues and Options by William Savedoff

24. Chapter 5 of Why Forests? Why Now - Technical Background Note by Jonah Busch, Jens Engelmann, and Alice Lépissier

25. Guyana’s REDD+ Agreement with Norway: Perceptions of and Impacts on Indigenous Communities by Tim Laing

See also associated blog, Guyana’s Forest Preservation Agreement: Hopes, Fears, and Consequences by William Savedoff

26. Competing or Complementary Strategies? Protecting Indigenous Rights and Paying to Conserve Forests by William Savedoff

27. Peru’s Participation in REDD+: Perceptions of and Impacts on Indigenous Communities by Liliana Lozano Flores

See also associated blog, What Will It Take to Stop Tropical Deforestation? Lessons from a Case Study of Indigenous Peoples and REDD+ in Peru by William Savedoff

28. An Uneven Path Toward Rights and REDD+ in Indonesia by Chip Fay and Ho-Ming So Denduangrudee